Motorola shows off New Memory

Motorola has displayed its new MRAM technology, a new form of memory chip that is faster and uses less power than any existing memory chip.

Motorola has displayed its new MRAM technology, a new form of memory chip that is faster and uses less power than any existing memory chip.

Developed in conjunction with DigitalDNA Laboratories, the new “universal memory” chip could replace current semiconductor memories within three years.

MRAM cells are based on a single transistor, and so are much smaller than other types of memory cells, which mean they can be mounted on top of the microprocessors that use the memory.

Realtime Video

This makes for much faster processor speeds, bringing technology like realtime video within the power of handheld devices. The speed at which MRAM can recover data - less than 15 nanoseconds - is much faster than any Flash memory, DRAM and all but the fastest SRAM, meaning startup times of the unit and retrieval of information is almost non-existent.

The speed and low power characteristics make the chips ideal for next generation mobile devices. The chip also shows no sign of wearing out after extensive testing, is non-volatile and is expected to exceed any temperature requirements.

Motorola are now looking at creating a higher density version to make storage of large volumes of data possible.